Progressing to be a Good Writer Essay Example

The day I walked into my 7th grade English class, is the day my perspective changed. In 7th grade I was just a baby with elementary school grammar. It was our very first big paper that we had to write. I was stressing so bad over it,because it was early in the year and writing was not my strong suit. Once I had finally finished the paper and submitted it, what I got back was upsetting. My teacher had commented and highlighted my paper so much it looked like a Christmas tree. The one thing she said that really got to me was "you need figure out what you're writing about". From then on a lot has changed.

The thing I love doing now that I hated before is, researching. My biggest problem with writing was researching things I was not interested in. A lot of people will not read something if they think it is boring. With that being a problem, it would make me want to procrastinate and not do the paper. A strategy that I used was relating a boring topic to interesting topic. I would figure out how to make it interesting and educational for myself. Now I make sure I have a good understanding of what I am going to write about and educate myself on the topic in depth by doing these 4 things.

Another thing that I think has made me a better writer over the years is finding my own mistakes. When you have mistakes they are usually bad habits; such as, slang, mixed up punctuation, or not using the right verb tense. Finding your own mistakes make you watch for it a lot more carefully. It also allows you to see maybe what you do not understand, when it comes to correct grammar or punctuation. It is a good feeling knowing you found your own mistakes instead of someone else. Having said that, I love finding where paper needs to be improved and can be fixed with my own eyes.

Feedback is what I believe that has made me a better writer is feedback. Feedback from my peers make me feel a lot better. Not only do my peers tell me what I have succeeded in, but they also tell me what needs to be worked on. It is awesome having someone else's opinion. Also, it helps with communication because they might think you did something wrong or you need to fix something but you do not feel the same way. In that case, you both talk it out and come to the right solution for the paper. Peer feedback is my way of revising my paper and seeing where I might have went wrong.

The last thing that has made a very big impact on my writing is rewriting. Once you see your mistakes first hand in your first draft, it makes it very noticeable where you messed up and how you messed up. When you rewrite something you may think of more powerful words or more details to put in your paper. I love writing a first draft because you get to see from the first to the final draft how much the paper has progressed. Even making a pre-write helps a lot with organizing your topics. It feels good to know you can take something simple and take it to something more complex.

Overall, my 7th grade teacher may have hurt my feelings with her comment but it made me wanna be better. It made me realize what I have to put into a paper to get a good grade. Researching, finding my own mistakes, and peer feedback were the things I know made me the writer I am today. Writing is such a creative way of thinking and expressing opinions or just expressing what you have learned by the topic. Over the years I have grown to love writing all because my 7th grade teacher took the time to comment and highlight my mistakes on my paper.